Republican Perez Joins Exodus From House Race

The Orlando Lawyer Said He Decided That He Did Not Want To ``leave The Community To Serve The Community.''

December 23, 1999|By Scott Maxwell of The Sentinel Staff

Republican Tico Perez handed fellow party members an early Christmas gift Wednesday by backing out of the race to fill Bill McCollum's congressional seat.

Perez said he decided he did not want to leave Orlando. ``It was just a realization that I was going to have to leave the community to serve the community,'' he said.

But Perez also was facing a daunting battle in his primary.

First, because the Orlando lawyer was a Democrat until 1992.

And also because, as a Republican, he was burdened with perhaps being best known for championing the campaign to add a penny to the local sales tax in 1997.

Republican Bill Sublette said he viewed Perez's retreat as a solid plus for his campaign. ``Tico was, by far, my most formidable opponent,'' said Sublette, a state legislator of seven years.

But the other two Republicans lined up to face Democrat Linda Chapin took issue with Sublette's assumption.

``Not a whole lot of folks know who Sublette is,'' said Bob Hering, a local businessman making his first foray into politics. ``Maybe folks at the party headquarters know him. But not the average man on the street.''

Republican attorney Ric Keller agreed, noting that McCollum was relatively unknown before he first won the seat in 1980. McCollum decided to leave his 8th District seat to seek a Senate position.

Perez's announcement comes less than a week after well-known state Sen. Daniel Webster announced that he would not seek the 8th District's GOP nomination either.

Chapin said it's been hard to ignore the recent activity on the Republican side - including ongoing talk of whether anyone else may enter the race. ``It does seem that the Republican leadership has not been satisfied with the candidates they've got,'' Chapin said. ``And that's got to be disappointing for them.''

The 8th District race promises to be fiercely fought - and carefully watched throughout the country.

Though the district, which covers most of Orange County, is heavily Republican, Democrats believe that Chapin is the one member of their party who can pull off the upset. Republicans, however, say that no Democrat can win since Republican voters outnumber Democrats by more than 20,000.